DURHAM – Putting a book in a child’s hand just may keep him from ever picking up a gun. Unrealistic? Farfetched? Not if you ask Durham minister and activist Paul Scott who believes reading can change the trajectory of a person’s life.
“What Martin Luther King accomplished wasn’t considered realistic. What Malcolm X accomplished wasn’t considered realistic. Marcus Garvey organizing 10 million Black people wasn’t realistic. Sometimes we have to step out of the realm of what is realistic and walk by faith. We’re walking by faith,” Scott said.
Scott started giving away books in Durham’s West End 20 years ago. Since October 2023, he’s concentrated on the Braggtown area, and, working with youth there, he formed a new gang, the Black Hoodie Brigade, whose mission is to “weaponize knowledge.
“It started as a suggestion of the youth because the year prior to that, I had been passing out free Black history books. The youth in the area felt the need for a movement, so that’s how the Black Hoodie Brigade started. Our mission is simple: take a book, study it, teach what you learned to somebody else and repeat the process,” Scott said.
Scott said the Black Hoodie Brigade was inspired by the Black Panther Party. Instead of wearing black leather jackets, Scott opted for black hoodies because they’re cheaper and almost everyone has one. Instead of carrying guns, members carry books, primarily by Black authors.
Although they carried guns, Scott said the Black Panther Party was instrumental in starting educational programs to empower the Black community. “Although they’re primarily known for guns, their real objective was political education. So, we focus on political education from an Afrocentric point of view. Those are the type of books I give out in the community, and the Black Hoodie Brigade’s mission is each one, teach one,” he said.
Cameron Long, 23, of Durham, agreed knowledge is power. “If young people start to understand certain things about themselves and their blackness, where they come from and their own history, once they get to be an adult, they can really understand more. As young people, we have to wise up and have to understand we’re next in line to be the leaders in the community.”
Sierra Thompson said her daughter has been collecting books from Scott since she was 2 years old; she’s now 6. “My daughter asks for a book every time she sees him, and it has been helpful because now she is learning how to read all by herself. He is an inspiration to this community and to the young generation coming up. My daughter loves to read now because of him,” she said.
Local activist Joy Spencer, who supports Scott’s work in the community, said he helps youth see beyond their immediate surroundings and dream about what they could be in the future. “The Black Hoodie Brigade offers them an opportunity to learn what is possible, an opportunity to see themselves in an empowering and positive light. I believe in knowing your history, it’s very important to know where you come from to help steer and guide where you are going,” Spencer said.
Scott said gang violence is big business that is snuffing out the life of Black youth. Where are the guns coming from? he asked.
“If the gun violence stops today, who suffers? The gun manufacturers, the prison industrial complex. Black death is an American institution. A lot of people make money off of it. They send their children to college based on the blood of our youth in the hood. That’s why people treat the symptoms instead of trying to cure the problem,” he said.
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